Real Estate Secrets, Dangers and Dirty Tricks that Cost You Money. Exposed by 20 year Realtor and Author

Misinformation

A close friend stopped by our house and excitedly introduced us to PTK.

Better focus, energy, fat loss, mood and sleep were some of the benefits he was personally enjoying. Of course I want that, who doesn’t?

My Mistake: I thought it would be for people who wanted to lose fat and had extra money in their budget.

Wrong.

PTK – Pure Therapeutic Ketones were developed for elite US military forces to get them into a peak performance state within hours so they could quickly respond to missions. They weren’t trying to lose weight – they needed better focus and energy to perform at their best.

So this is for anyone who wants peak performance at work and in life.

Cost:

Pure Therapeutic Ketones are not cheap, although there are plenty of cheap knock offs on the market. Pruvit owns the patent to the real thing, and that is protected by law.

Two servings of PTK knocked out my cravings for sweets and chocolate.

Cha Ching. I’m now saving money on snacks.

Friends of ours are already saving on groceries and restaurants because cravings for expensive junk food are being eliminated. Folks are just rearranging their grocery budget and buying PTK instead of garbage.

Better health also leads to long term cost benefits.

Good health is an investment, not an expense.

Of course there is an income opportunity here. But you can also get your PTK at a discount, or even free, just as a customer.

Watch this 3 minute video to learn more about ketones and ketosis. As more research comes out, this is becoming more and more popular. PTK allows us to jump start ketosis and begin reaping the benefits weeks before we would see results just by changing our eating habits.

No one has said this to me yet, but I suspect cigarettes could also be a cost savings. Everyone knows ex-smokers tend to gain weight. Eliminating the downside of quitting and improving health and finances could be a benefit to those who want to quit without the weight gain.

Watch this 3 minute video and let me know what you like best about it.

The ad was captivating. It grabbed your attention and pulled you in, but don’t fall for it.

There are several reasons people go to Zillow, but here is proof that you shouldn’t make any important decisions based on what you find there.

Buyers are looking for homes

Sellers are confirming the value for a list price

Buyers are confirming the value before making an offer

Folks are “checking out” a potential real estate agent

Pictures, maps, neighborhood info

The dirty low down:

Number 5 is easy: Zillow harvests photos and data from numerous sources and provides it for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy it. Even if the photos are not current, you aren’t going to make too big of a mistake just from looking at them.

Number 1 is also easy: Not everything you see on Zillow is actually available for sale. There are dozens of reasons why properties are shown when they aren’t for sale. This company exists solely to lure viewers and collect information to sell to real estate agents. The data doesn’t have to be accurate; it just has to be attractive.

Number 4 can be a real problem. It’s a problem for the buyers and sellers, and also for the real estate agents. I sell two or three times as much real estate as the average agent, but you can’t tell that from looking at Zillow. They say that I have not sold anything in the last 17 months. https://jimsweat.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/really-zillow-again/

Yes, I can go in and manually update it, but that doesn’t mean it will be accurate next week. Here today, gone tomorrow is reality with these guys.

They were happy to use my photos, my descriptions and marketing remarks on my listings they used as “bait” to attract potential buyer and seller leads, but when those homes sold, Zillow conveniently “forgot” to credit me with the sale.

Blog post January 16, 2015 titled Real Estate Misinformation and Extortion tells how after 20 years in real estate, Zillow showed me completing 2 (two) total transactions. Two. After I had been a full time licensed real estate professional for twenty years! I had owned a real estate company part of that time. I had obtained my ABR, CRS, GRI, CDPE, e-PRO and ILHM designations – many of which require a certain level of production to qualify. But the big gorilla of real estate information credited me with two sales!

My blog post Boom! Yes That Was My Head Exploding! from August 6, 2015 tells when I found out Trulia and Zillow wiped my slate, again. After over 20 years as a full-time licensed real estate professional, part of which I was broker/owner of a real estate company, Trulia credited me with 1 (one) total career sale and Zillow showed me having 2 (two) sales in my entire career!

You don’t have to make things up, they prove every day that danger lurks if you blindly follow.

The thing to remember is that Zillow exists purely to make money from real estate brokers. If they have decent information on the website, great. If not, it doesn’t matter as long as they can lure people there, collect the contact info, and sell them to an agent.

There are thousands of companies that do the same thing: provide real estate information for the sole purpose of collecting leads to sell to real estate agents. Zillow just happens to be the biggest, and therefore can do the most damage.

Zillow has some great ads: A wonderful mix of emotional heart-tugs and perceived factual data.

Too bad people make important life decisions based on the fake news and false information.

Millions of people go to this website every month. They’re looking at listings, checking values and enjoying pictures.

Let me warn you, again, DO NOT make any important decisions based on the information you find there!

This company exists solely to attract viewers and collect information to sell to real estate agents. The data doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be attractive.

Notice how many places on the screen grab offer me the opportunity to spend money with them: Advertise; Advertising; Promote Yourself on Zillow. Clickable links all over that page for one purpose only.

This week I noticed my Zillow profile says I have had no sales in the last 12 months. The last sale they show was 17 months ago. I periodically look at my profile to see if it is up to date, and rarely is it.

Strange, because Zillow has no problem pulling my photos (either that I personally took or paid a photographer for), my marketing remarks and the data I enter into the Multiple Listing System (MLS). They even show me as the listing agent on my listings during the listing period (that is the main thing I check when a property is listed).

So why do they have such a problem crediting me when the property sells? They have access to the information. Why is it a constant battle with them to get correct information? My theory is that I am not a willing victim to their money squeeze, so they punish me (and tens of thousands of other agents).

My blog post Boom! Yes That Was My Head Exploding! from August 6, 2015 tells when I found out Trulia and Zillow wiped my slate, again. After over 20 years as a full-time licensed real estate professional, part of which I was broker/owner of a real estate company, Trulia credited me with 1 (one) total career sale and Zillow showed me having 2 (two) sales in my entire career!

Blog post January 16, 2015 titled Real Estate Misinformation and Extortion details some back ground on these companies that don’t really care about accurate data, all they really want are eyeballs looking at their site.

Do not make any major decisions based on an online, automated home valuation. You could lose a lot of money. A lot.

How does a $60,000 loss on a $300,000 home sound to you? Ridiculous? Read on.

Of course you are going to look up the value before you make an offer on a home, or prior to selling your current place. Just remember, that number is almost guaranteed to be wrong.

If you make life-changing decisions based on bad information, then you’re jeopardizing your future.

How can I be so sure the information you get online isn’t correct? Because it is statistically unlikely, and most of the sites will even tell you so, in the fine print.

Does it matter which site you use? Not really. Some are better at guessing than others, but they all vary dramatically.

When determining value on a property I typically check ten different online valuation sites. Not because I think they “know” what the home is worth, but because the seller and potential buyers are checking these sites, and it’s better to know in advance what disinformation they are consuming.

Those values are all over the map!

For example, a home with a true market value of $300,000 might have automated valuations ranging from 225,000 to 375,000. That is a large margin of error!

What about the infamous Zillow Zestimate? This is the margin of error stated on their website as of July 26, 2018:

Nationwide, Zestimates are currently within 5% of the final sale price 52.9% of the time.

In the U.S. as a whole, Zestimates are currently within 10% of the final sale price 73.3% of the time.

Nationally, Zestimates are currently within 20% of the final sale price 85.8% of the time.

Let’s put this into real world numbers using the $300k actual value example.

Just over half of the time (52.9%) the Zestimate is within $15,000 (5%) of actual final sales price. That could be high or low, so a $30,000 swing from 285,000 to 315,000.

The Zestimate is within 10% on another 20.4% of homes. That means a $60,000 swing from 270,000 to 330,000. If the buyer believes the real value is 270,000 and the seller thinks it is 330,000… well it’s easy to see we now have a significant problem.

Another 12.5% of homes are within 20%. That produces a $120,000 range of value from 240,000 to 360,000! That is 40% of the actual value! You don’t want to make any decisions based on this information!

Zillow admits they are not even within 20% (high or low) on 14.2% of homes nationally.

Do you want to guess which group your Zestimate falls within? It’s a roll of the dice!

If you’re in the 52.9% group you could lose $15,000.

If you’re in the 20.4% group you could lose $30,000.

If you’re in the 12.5% group you could lose $60,000.

If you’re in the 14.2% group you could lose even more than that!

The last two groups comprise 26.7% of properties. That means you have a greater than 1 in 4 chance oflosing $60,000 or more if you base your buying or selling decision on the information you obtained from the big gorilla of real estate data online.

This is a multi-billion dollar company that draws millions of people to the website each and every month. And I have the nerve to warn you against believing what you see in black and white on that website? Yes. That website and dozens of others. Pay attention.

The actual Zestimate, not the range of possibility, the actual published number on my personal residence has gone up and down over the last year $59,000. That is absurd. Home values don’t rise and fall with the wind, like the stock market.

Side note: Facebook stock is down 20% today. Your home doesn’t go on a roller coaster ride every month.

These robot valuations use raw sales data available from public records but they have a huge disadvantage: They have never been inside your home.

They don’t know if the flooring, kitchen cabinets and roof all need replaced, or if they were just completely updated. They can’t see the view; they don’t know if the comparative sales were well cared for or not; they can’t tell if the home next door is an eyesore or worse; they can’t hear the traffic from the highway that decreased the selling price on three of the comparable sales they are using.

The bottom line is you need a trustworthy professional to give you good information.

Contact a full-time, experienced and knowledgeable professional whom you trust to give you good advice so you can make the best decision for your family.

Many people mistakenly believe that Seller’s Disclosure only benefits the buyer, but there is significant benefit to the seller in making disclosure.

But first, let me point out that the fact some people think this way means we have to add it to the list of potential dangers for a buyer who is working directly with an owner.

Did you know Seller’s Disclosure is not a Realtor requirement? It is required by law, whether you are working with a licensed real estate professional or not.

A seller’s disclosure is a legally required statement that discloses important or relevant information to a real property buyer. A seller’s property disclosure form is governed by state and federal laws.

It is easy to understand how the seller’s disclosure can protect the buyer. When the property condition is disclosed, the buyer can make the purchase decision based on the facts, rather than on the hope that everything is great. Or the false hope that all is well, when in reality there is a defect that will become apparent later.

Some sellers don’t want to disclose defects because it could affect the price.

Well, yes. It could, and likely should, affect the price. But it may not prevent an offer; kill the sale at inspection; or worse.

Consider if you were the buyer of a used car, and the odometer had been rolled back (youngsters, just play along like you know what that means).

The value of the car is less than portrayed because of the higher actual miles. If the person who sold you the car hid the fact the mileage was wrong, they committed fraud, and you could take them to court.

The court looks at two main things:

1.)Was the buyer harmed (in this case, yes)

2.)Did the seller intentionally commit the fraud?

If the seller was also a victim of odometer fraud, and unknowingly bought the car, and subsequently sold it without knowledge of the fraud, then they would have to take that up with the person they bought it from.

And by “take that up with” I mean, “take them to court”.

If the seller made the buyer aware of the incorrect mileage, the buyer may still have bought the car, and the seller would not have to look forward to attorney and court costs.

That is the benefit of disclosing known defects. Without a required seller’s disclosure, a seller can be held liable.

I always tell my sellers, “Disclosure is lawsuit protection. You cannot be sued for things that you disclose, but you may be sued for things that you conceal.”

Protect yourself and disclose as required by the laws in your state. Laws vary.

Florida law provides that, with some exceptions, you (as a home seller) must disclose any facts or conditions about your property that have a substantial impact on its value or desirability, and that others cannot easily see for themselves (This comes from the court case of Johnson v. Davis, 480 So.2d 625 (Fla. 1985)).

I send a bi-weekly, digital newsletter with insights into the real estate market, as well as helpful hints, tips and trends for homeowners. If you would like to receive it, just send me a message with your email and I will add you to the next mailing.

“A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.”

It refers to the pitfalls of having too much potentially conflicting information when making a decision.

The same thing happens on the internet. I just searched my own name, something I have to do from time to time because I am in a very public business.

The results showed that I have been in the real estate business for 4, 8, 9, 17 or 20 years. Quite a spread.

My production during that time is even more interesting: I have sold 1, 2, 43, or a vague “hundreds of homes” during my entire career.

When you go online to get answers, you want good information. Admittedly, many of the websites I found myself on I have never heard of before, but I did only look at the ones that had my “actual info” and not one of the dozens of other Jim Sweats out there.

Let’s be smart about this. To sort through all of the garbage online and get the real scoop, let’s just look at the best websites.

Is it safe to assume that the top two sites would have the best information? I am talking the two with the most monthly visitors; the largest dollar valuations; publicly traded companies that dominate all of the others for real estate search. This should give us the most accurate, up to date information available, right? They even state that they update their information regularly.

Zillow and Trulia (who are in the process of merging, subject to government approval) are the dominate players in real estate search, and they do not have my information correct. Not even close.

Yes, they have my 20 years right, but Zillow had me completing only two (2) sales during my entire career, and Trulia had me down for just one (1)!

I am in the process of getting those things updated, so the numbers should be different by the time you look for yourself. But, let’s get real! I have had a profile on each of these sites for over five years! How long does it take to “update regularly”?!?

So, is the problem that I have not paid them to make my information accurate? Possibly. I have called them and they tell me they will update my information and it will begin to fill in. But I didn’t pay them, and nothing changed. Trulia says I don’t have any reviews, but there are seven on the site. However, I don’t have any ratings because the reviews were added by folks before the ratings featured existed.

Millions of people go to these sites every month. I would like to ignore them, because the information is factually-challenged, but I can’t do that when most of my potential customers are on these sites.